


Moving Towards a Storm

by hardtoconcentrate



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Alternate Universe - X-Men Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:03:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8131418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardtoconcentrate/pseuds/hardtoconcentrate
Summary: “Why’d Holtby decide to leave that office? It has a window. He loved that office,” Nicky comments absentmindedly as he packs his laptop into his bag, classes finally over.“I may have bribe. Give him some information he had been looking for. Office was small price to pay.” The satisfaction is evident on Sasha’s face as he plays with the pens on Nicky’s desk, clicking them incessantly.“Why’d you want it?”“Easy way to come annoy you every day between class," Sasha replies, tongue-in-cheek, but his smile is genuine.A story of mutants, misguided decisions, and love.





	1. One.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [punkassbookjockey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkassbookjockey/gifts).



> Take the romantic relationships in the X-Men universe. Throw them all out the window. That's basically what this story is premised upon. All characters are meant to correspond to X-Men canon, all relationships between them don't really exist in this fic.
> 
> For clarification:
> 
> Professor Xavier - Barry Trotz  
> Jean Grey/Phoenix - Nicklas Backstrom  
> Piotr Rasputin/Colossus - Alexander Ovechkin  
> Scott Summers/Cyclops - TJ Oshie  
> Logan Howlett/Wolverine - Braden Holtby  
> Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler - Michael Latta  
> Kitty Pride/Shadowcat - Tom Wilson  
> Tabitha Smith/Boom Boom - Andre Burakovsky
> 
> I own nothing whatsoever, not the X-Men canon and continuity nor all these ridiculous hockey boys. Also, waive any and all notions of science and all those odd things. They do not exist within my headspace for the purposes of this story.

_ It’s Halloween at the Trotz Institute and Nicky and Sasha have been stuck on door duty. Nicky plays lightly with the belt around his waist, adjusting the fit lightly so he can have some breathing room. He’s not on a mission. It’s not going to fall off. _

 

_ “Why you sitting on chandelier?” Sasha calls up to him with a small pout, “No fun being down here alone. Is nighttime, everything dark, and only light in the room is playing with uniform instead of being down here and having fun with me.” _

 

_ Nicky snorts very ungracefully and drops off, floating down to the ground lightly. When his boots hit the ground, he looks over at Sasha with a long-suffering sigh before taking a seat on the bottom step of the staircase.  _

 

_ “What are the dark spots on chandelier lights?” Sasha inquires, eyes narrowing as he looks up at the obscured light at the points of the fixtures. Nicky looks up in alarm. _

 

_ “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it, I’m sure the light just blew out or something-” Nicky begins to explain, but the unconvinced look on Sasha’s face tells him it’s a lost cause. Nicky sighs and flies back up, plucking the bite-sized Twix bars out of their tentative spaces between the bulbs, coming back down and showing his full palm to a grinning Sasha. _

 

_ “Nicky, you have secret sweet tooth?” He asks gleefully, taking one of the pieces of candy and playing with it between two fingers before unwrapping it and offering it to Nicky. _

 

_ Oh, what the hell. Nicky leans forward and takes his bite, licking his lips at the excess caramel and melted chocolate and looking up at a suddenly blushing Sasha before the doorbell rings and breaks the spell. _

 

_ The sound of small children radiates through the door. Happy fucking Halloween.  _

 

“No,” Nicky says with a glare, hoping he can get the message through Sasha’s head. He doesn’t think it’s working.

  
  
“What?” 

 

“Take that chocolate and go away, Professor Ovechkin.”

 

“Can’t bring candy to favorite psychic?”

 

“Not while I’m teaching a class,” Nicky responds flatly, turning back to his whiteboard and drawing out a diagram of the Danger Room, but he’s completely sure Sasha can see the faint blush that he can feel taking over his cheeks. He can feel Sasha’s grin. Goddamn it.

 

Twenty minutes later, when the kids are filing out of the room with quiet thank yous, he turns back to Sasha, who for some reason is sitting in an empty student desk at the back of the room with his feet up and reading a book quietly. 

 

It calls to mind some late-night mental images he’s had in the past. He’s not proud.

 

“What do you want?” Nicky calls at him, sighing and erasing his board slowly. 

 

“You have a migraine,” Sasha states with a flat smile, challenging him to contradict him, and how the hell does he know?

 

“I-” Nicky starts, but Sasha waves his hand lightly.

 

“You not wearing a tie, your handwriting messier than normal, and I can see in your face. Worked with you too long, Nicky. I bring something to cheer you up, maybe make you feel better.” Sasha raises his little bucket of candy bars like it’s Simba from The Lion King, and Nicky can’t help but smile. He pulls it towards the front of the room until it plops down onto his desk with a light  _ clang _ . He picks through the candy bars. All different varieties of Twix. 

 

“When did you even get these? It’s 8:30 in the morning. You couldn’t have noticed it before your first lesson,” Nicky points out curiously, pulling a fun-sized bar out from the bottom of the pail and unwrapping it gently.

 

“Have secret stash of cheer-Nicky-up candy. You’ll never find it,” Sasha replies smugly. Nicky looks at the little piece of sugar and calories in his hand before downing it in two bites.

 

If the chocolate only exacerbates his migraine, well. Nobody ever said Nicklas Backstrom was an intelligent man.

 

“How’s Andre?” Nicky asks carefully through chews of biscuit and caramel. The smile falls off Sasha’s face slightly and he sighs, putting his feet down onto the ground and leaning forward almost as if he’s going to get up and come towards Nicky.

 

“He’s fine. Wilso and Latts not leave his side, you know? Willy feels responsible. He’ll be okay soon, but they sleep in chairs next to him and feed him and everything. Not let Beast do it. Professor says he’s taking Andre off active duty until he learns better control. Powers dangerous and he just kid.” Sasha’s voice is sympathetic as he sighs and leans back in his seat again, rocking on the back two legs. Nicky’s afraid he’s going to snap one them somehow.

 

“And the arm?”   
  
“Broken, but will heal. Could be worse. He could have gotten lot more after explosion than just rockslide,” Sasha says with a shrug, loudly dropping the chair onto all fours and getting up. 

 

“Enjoy the chocolate,” he says with a smirk, walking out the door.

 

Nicky’s too used to the hurricane that is Alexander Ovechkin to be fazed by it.

 


	2. Two.

“Come train with me,” Sasha wheedles, shifting and leaning back against the door of Nicky’s classroom. Great. No way Nicky’s going to be able to get that open now.

 

“I have things to do,” Nicky complains, crossing his arms and glaring at Sasha, imposing and dashing in his steel. Wait, what? 

 

“We can knock out danger protocol in ten minutes,” Sasha pleads, cool blue eyes surprisingly bright as he looks at Nicky earnestly. Nicky lets out a soft sigh and moves over to the door, tugging at the handle and trying fervently to ignore how closely pressed up he is to Sasha right now.

 

“You’re not going to move door that way,” Sasha points out, far too satisfied with himself as he presses the door firmly into its frame with his weight. Nicky glances up at him before rolling his eyes.

 

“Are we going to the Danger Room or not? I’d like to get this done before lunch,” Nicky explains with another long-suffering sigh, but he doesn’t miss the glow that comes across Sasha’s face as he moves away and lets Nicky open the door. Damn it. Nicky can feel the radiant heat as Sasha follows him out. 

 

“Do I have to change?” Nicky asks, sullen, as they walk down the hallway, closer than would probably be appropriate for colleagues but not close enough for Nicky’s tastes. Nicky’s hand itches to cross the two inches between them and take Sasha’s.

 

“Where is fun if you train in teacher clothes? Besides,” Sasha starts, pulling him to a stop by the wrist and pressing into his side, murmuring into his ear, “You going to let Danger Room tear up that nice, ironed shirt for teaching? Look too good in it to get ruined.” 

 

Sasha walks on.

 

Nicky’s frozen in his spot for a few seconds before striding behind him, mind whirling again with the very inappropriate implications of Sasha’s last sentence.

 

Thankfully, the rest of the walk down the stairs and into the hallways of the Danger Room is mostly silent. Nicky doesn’t think he could take any more comments like that one.

 

He’s grateful when he finally has the chance to slip into the changing rooms by the entrance to the computers and bite his lip as he changes into his green-and-gold, willing his stirring interest to go away. He fastens the belt around his waist and looks at himself in the mirror. Thankfully, even through the tight fabric, it’s not too evident.   
  
He would never hear the end of it from Sasha.

 

Satisfied as he slips into his second skin, he pulls open the door and goes towards the computer room, ready to program a quick simulation.

 

And almost has a heart attack as he sees Sasha, casually leaning against the door with something Nicky did not notice last time he saw Sasha in uniform. Nicky tries his hardest to not immediately zero in on it, but it’s a lost cause.

 

“Sasha,” Nicky starts, trying to avoid actively pointing at Sasha’s groin, where a very conspicuous piercing can be seen through the thin fabric of Sasha’s shorts. Sasha just arches an eyebrow at him, cryptic yet suggestive as always, daring him to continue. Nicky hates him right now. 

 

“Sasha. When… why did you…” Nicky can’t even word it. He’s never been this lost for words before.

 

“Is for me to know, and you to maybe find out, da?” Sasha replies, lecherous grin on his face as he uncrosses his arms and makes his way into the Danger Room calculator.

 

For the second time in a half hour, Nicky can only stare after Sasha, stunned into immobility, mind whirling with the possibilities. 

 

If he doesn’t get his head taken off by the Danger Room for staring at Sasha’s dick today, it’ll be a fucking miracle.

  
  
  
  



	3. Three.

_ “Why’d Holtby decide to leave that office? It has a window. He loved that office,” Nicky comments absentmindedly as he packs his laptop into his bag, classes finally over. _

 

_ “I may have bribe. Give him some information he had been looking for. Office was small price to pay.” The satisfaction is evident on Sasha’s face as he plays with the pens on Nicky’s desk, clicking them incessantly. _

__   
_   
_ __ “Why’d you want it?”

 

_   
_ _ “Easy way to come annoy you every day between class.” _

 

A metallic-sounding knock, surprisingly gentle, shakes Nicky out of his thoughts. He looks up from his cluttered desk to see a grinning Sasha, leaning casually in the doorway with two stacked plastic containers resting in the palm of his hand.

 

“I bring gifts,” Sasha murmurs in lilting Russian, shaking the containers in his hand enticingly.

 

“You… brought me food,” Nicky murmurs, confused.

 

“Chicken and pasta. Your favorite, no?” Sasha asks, teasing smile on his face as he crosses the room in only a few strides, hopping lightly onto one of Nicky’s student’s desks. Nicky’s afraid if Sasha sits there for any extended period of time, the desk will break down. Nicky gently levitates the top container and the fork on top of it onto his desk, pulling off the top and peering inside. It’s hot and smells of sharp spices and vapor, and Nicky can’t help but stare up at him for a few seconds.

 

“You didn’t buy this somewhere,” Nicky states, scrutinizing Sasha carefully.

 

“Read my mind?” Sasha asks lightheartedly, and Nicky doubts he would even have minded had that been the truth.

 

“Just a hunch. You made this… for me?” Nicky asks, caught a bit off-guard. 

 

“You are tired. Mission ran late last night and you had first morning class. I am best captain, clearly,” Sasha says warmly, and Nicky’s heart aches just a bit. He pokes at the dish for a bit before scooping up some penne and taking a bite.

 

It’s good.

 

“You can cook,” Nicky mumbles surprisedly through a mouthful of pasta, looking back up and startling slightly at the determinedly pleased glint in Sasha’s eyes.

 

“Surprised?” Sasha challenges, taking the lid off his own cap and starting straight into devouring his own meal.

 

“Breathe,” Nicky reminds him mildly, even as he picks up the pace on finishing off his own plate.

 

It’s actually really good. Nicky doesn’t know how to feel about this.

 

“Why’d you make me food?” He asks again, unconvinced of Sasha’s cavalier answer.

 

“Is it hard to believe that I want make sure you eat? You very tired, teaching all day today, no sleep… Worry about you sometimes, Nicky,” Sasha admits, and Nicky can see nothing but pure and open honesty written all over his face. Sasha has never been a good liar. 

 

“You wear your heart on your sleeve, you know that?” Nicky comments, not realizing until it’s too late that he’s said it out loud. 

 

“I don’t mind. Rather you know how I feel than not,” Sasha says quietly, all traces of humor gone from his smiley expression, and for a psychic, Nicky feels very, very out of his element all of a sudden.

 

“You know we can’t do this,” Nicky replies carefully, and he’s sure his face looks just as lost as Sasha’s is serious.

 

“Why, Nicky?” Sasha’s voice is soft, so soft, and it’s throwing him off. Sasha is not meant to have a soft voice. Sasha is meant to have a booming voice, a voice that fills every room of the mansion and every chamber of Nicky’s heart. Sasha with a soft voice is unnatural, and Nicky doesn’t know what to do with that. He hates it.

 

“Sasha, we’re teammates,” Nicky murmurs, casting his gaze down so he doesn’t have to meet Sasha’s steely blue gaze, “What if something happened? We fight, the whole team is compromised? Is that what you want? We  _ teach _ together, Sasha. Do you want our students to notice? What then? We can’t risk everything we’ve established here for the sake of…” 

 

“For the sake of  _ what _ , Nicky? You already almost lost me once. Will not happen again. Over my dead body,” Sasha tells him calmly, and Nicky’s almost afraid to look up at him again.

 

But he does.

 

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Nicky whispers, looking up at him with an earnest look, eyes pleading at Sasha to understand. Nicky can see Sasha’s features shift into an indiscernible expression of confusion and maybe hurt before he drops lightly off the desk, the loud thump of Sasha’s boots onto the ground startling Nicky yet again.

 

“Fine,” Sasha acknowledges, bowing his head lightly, “Fine. If that’s what you want, that’s how we can be. Is okay.”

 

“Sasha-” Nicky starts to protest, suddenly anxious about how this conversation might end, but Sasha’s already walking out the door. Nicky has never felt so suddenly, painfully alone.

  
  



	4. Four

It’s been two days since they last had lunch together, and Sasha hasn’t shown up in his classroom once. The only thing Sasha’s said to him in the past forty-eight hours is, “Put your seatbelt on, Phoenix.” in the T-Jet on the way to New Orleans. Sasha never used to call him Phoenix.

 

_“Nicky, behind you!” Sasha calls out, waiting until Nicky flies to the side to absolutely level Mystique into the tree behind him._

 

_Nicky gives him as stern of a look as he can while flying out of Sasha’s path of destruction before calling back, “We’re on a fucking mission, Colossus! It’s fucking Phoenix!”_

 

_“Like Nicky better. Is cuter,” Sasha replies with a toothy, knowing grin, before jumping forward and grabbing Toad by the collar of his uniform, shoving him up against the wall._

 

_Looks like that conversation is over._

 

“Have you seen Colossus?”

 

Nicky shakes his head, jolting upright in his seat and looking over at the source of the voice. It’s fucking Oshie, standing in his doorway with a shit-eating grin. Of course it is.

 

“What?”  
  
“Have. You. Seen. Alex?” Oshie articulates, lips shifting into a bit of a pitying smile, and god, Nicky wants to punch him in the fucking jaw.

 

“You know as well as I do that I haven’t spoken to him lately. Why do you need him?” Nicky grits out, his attempt at being civilized taking everything he has out of him.

 

“Well, maybe you can answer my question instead, actually. What happened between you two?” Oshie asks, and Nicky bristles.

 

“None of your business, TJ,” Nicky replies, suppressing every urge he has to send his textbook flying at Oshie’s face.

 

“It’s weird… I thought I was doing you a favor and all. You know, you being in love with him and all that,” Oshie states matter-of-factly, “I figured if he told you how he felt too, you guys would be happy. What the fuck happened?”

 

Wait. What?

 

“You told him to tell me,” Nicky asks as a non-question, voice flat as he presses his pen against the desk, looking up at Oshie with a sparkling irritation in his eyes. Oshie just rolls his eyes. Or at least, Nicky thinks he does. It’s always difficult to tell with Oshie’s stupid ruby quartz glasses.

 

“You guys have been skirting around each other for like, five years. I thought you’d both be better off if you finally just got together, you know? No more awkward moments on the team, no more worrying whether Mama and Papa are arguing, but I mean… You guys should have gotten together five years ago, honestly. This is just dumb,” Oshie huffs, crossing his arms.

 

“It can’t happen,” Nicky states brusquely, before going back to grading his students’ telekinesis tests. The grades he’s seeing don’t help his frustration.

 

“What, you’re afraid of… something happening to you? Something happening to him?” TJ asks with a snort, finally stepping into the room and hopping up on one of the chairs. Just like Sasha did. Fuck.

 

“We work together,” Nicky states exasperatedly, “Haven’t you ever heard, ‘Don’t date your teammates’?”

 

“Tommy and Latts do it just fine.” TJ kicks the chair under the seat lightly with his heel and looks over at him with a grin. Nicky can feel a migraine coming on, but Sasha won’t be coming in to offer him chocolate this time.

 

“Tom and Michael don’t lead the team together. Get out, Cyclops. I’m not in the mood for this.”

 

“Nicky.”

  
  
“Out.” Nicky repeats, his tone unwavering as he moves the desk an inch into the air, gaze threatening. Oshie falters as he loses his balance for a second, grabbing onto the edge of the desk and giving Nicky a reproachful look. Nicky arches an eyebrow at him and looks back down at the papers he’s grading, desk still in the air.

 

Oshie grumbles under his breath the entire way out.

 

Nicky’s watch beeps the count of noon. He sweeps his things into his bag quickly and heads for the door, routine firmly entrenched into his mind at this point.

 

It’s not until he’s at the door, hand on the handle, that he realizes what he was about to set off to do.

 

_“You’re slow, you know,” Sasha taunts him, basketball firmly under his arm as he watches Nicky lean on his knees, panting heavily._

 

_“You have freak endurance, who the hell are you calling slow? Besides, I thought we said no powers. How am I supposed to get faster if you just keep shooting circles around me?” Nicky complains, straightening up and groaning at the soreness in his back._

 

_“It’s not my fault you are shrimp without magic,” Sasha replies, satisfied, tossing him the ball and making his way to the center of the court. Nicky snags the ball out of the air and takes a deep breath before meeting Sasha in the center circle._

 

 _“It’s not magic. I will say, though, if we do this every single day, I can’t tell whether I’ll get faster or just die of exhaustion trying to keep up with you,” Nicky deadpans, arching an eyebrow before making his first move to the right. He’ll call it a victory every time he manages to fake around Sasha without getting crushed in his vice grip and losing his ball. It’s the little things that matter._   
_  
__Sasha just sticks his tongue out - what is he, five years old? - and swings his arm out, batting the ball from Nicky’s dribble and heading the other way. Well, it’s worth getting his ass kicked on a daily basis to see the jubilant smile on Sasha’s face as he shoots an easy three pointer into his basket._

 

Nicky lets out a sigh of frustration and shakes his head. He opens the door and turns to the facility doors, even though every bone in his body wants to walk down to the athletics complex and see if Sasha’s there. If Nicky wants to run laps around the track alone, that’s his business. If Nicky runs the entire time while remembering the first time Sasha threw him a basketball after class and told him to get changed, well. That’s also his business.


	5. Five.

“You’re not serious, Professor,” Nicky argues, incensed. 

 

Trotz levels him with a withering glare and asks lightly, “Would you like to test it? You’re going to Erie with Colossus and that’s final. We need to talk to the boy before the Brotherhood does. No excuses.” He reaches over to the edge of his desk and slides a small blue dossier into Nicky’s view. From the corner of his eye, Nicky can see the clipped photograph of a confused kid, pained look on his face as he looks at the boy standing next to him.

 

“Professor, I can take anyone else-” 

 

“Or you can take Colossus like I’m telling you to. And be careful. Young Mr. McDavid there will be able to do whatever you do and know whatever you know. He could be dangerous, but… He’s just a boy.” He turns his wheelchair towards the window and links his fingers together thoughtfully as he watches the rookies train in the yard.   
  
Well, that’s as final as Nicky’s ever heard.    
  
“Maybe this will be a good thing,” Trotz continues, indifferent to Nicky’s internal melodrama, “I think you two have certain… issues that would be better off resolved.” 

 

Shit.

 

The ride in the T-Jet is quiet, Sasha looking out the side windows silently as Nicky flies the jet with much, much more precision than he ever has before. 

 

This is the most tempted Nicky’s ever been to look into his mind. 

 

Nicky grits his teeth and grips the yoke tighter.    
  
It’s been over an hour of clear weather and moonlight when Sasha suddenly bolts up in his seat, eyes fixed at a quickly enlarging point down on the earth, and asks quietly, “What the fuck is that?”

 

Nicky looks down just in time to stop a car from hitting the T-Jet, immobilizing the car mid-air while rolling the jet sideways. 

 

“What the fuck,” Nicky yells, dropping the jet’s altitude down and looking over at Sasha. His face is slightly panicked, and it’s the first emotion Nicky’s seen directed towards him in the past week.

 

“Magneto,” Sasha murmurs, face pale before he shifts into his steel, and oh, no. Nicky shouldn’t have brought him here tonight. Trotz shouldn’t have sent him here tonight. 

 

A loud clang and the sound of rushing air resound from the back of the jet, making Nicky yelp and gun the engines even more. Sasha’s intake of breath as he turns to look at the damage confirms his suspicions, but he can’t see it for himself. Nor can he see Magneto under the jet. He told himself he’d never do this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

The moment Nicky’s mind meets Sasha’s, he feels like fainting. 

 

He can see the massive hole ripped from the underside of the T-Jet - and notes how much he’ll have to apologize to Oshie about it later - and he can see Magneto and an entire crowd of Brotherhood mutants following the rapidly-descending jet. 

 

He can feel Sasha’s stress, and he can feel Sasha’s worry. What he can’t understand, however, is why that worry is directed at him. There’s affection and fear and sheer, blinding  _ love  _ behind the worry, and Nicky almost lets the yoke go. He can feel it all, and it’s overwhelming. 

  
He never knew. Now he does, and they’re about to crash into the fucking ground.

 

“Sasha, we’re going to need to evacuate,” Nicky tells him, voice slightly tremulous but grip steely as he tries to level out the jet before they cross the tree-line. 

 

“Nicky-”

 

“We’re evacuating and we’re going to be fine,” Nicky affirms, face grim as he slams the ejection button with the heel of his hand. The hatch above them opens, and the wind is deafening. He pulls up the yoke as best he can in an attempt to get them to rise for a little while longer before looking over at Sasha and yelling, “Do you trust me?”

 

“Nicky-”   
  


“ _ Do you fucking trust me? _ ” 

 

“Yes,” Sasha yells back, conviction evident in his voice. Nicky grabs his wrist and flies out the top of the jet. They watch silently for a few moments, Sasha dangling lightly in the air in Nicky’s firm grip, as the jet careens through the trees and crash-lands halfway into the nearby lake with a soft splash.

 

A small growl of surprise as a ring of red light scorches Sasha’s leg breaks Nicky out of his reverie and reminds him that they’re not alone.

 

“There are too many of them,” Sasha protests as Nicky hauls him up, grabs him by the waist as best he can and nimbly flies them out of the way of the witch’s hexes.

 

“They’re not going to let us leave,” Nicky points out before letting out an agonized cry as the  next hex hits him right in the side. His grip slips and all he sees is Sasha plummeting to the ground, his motion almost graceful through the cool night sky as Magneto looks up from under them and catches him mid-fall, arm stretched out and calmly controlling a struggling Sasha. 

 

_ “Have I ever mentioned why Professor Trotz never puts me on smaller missions when Magneto might be there?” _

 

_ “No.” _

 

_ “He can control my steel. Am powerless to him. Vulnerable if steel, vulnerable if not. No way out.” _

 

Nicky rushes down to ground-level, yelling a desperate, “Sasha!” 

 

_ “Sasha, be careful, for god’s sakes!” Nicky’s levitating the car off his back as he approaches him, ready to chew him out for his recklessness. _ __   
  


_ “I thought you said it was Colossus when we on mission,” Sasha replies casually, teasing grin on his face very out of place as he pins Magneto’s annoying little speedster by the arms. _

 

_ Nicky blinks at him before a small smile comes onto his face.  _

 

_ “You know what, I think I like Sasha better.” Nicky smiles and comes to stand by his side. _

 

Magneto looks up at him and blinks once, twice, before bowing his head and sending him careening into Nicky, both of them yelling and silver flashing before his eyes as the momentum sends them flying a few hundred meters before crashing into the lake and being enveloped by darkness. 

 


	6. Six.

Nicky can’t see. 

 

No, Nicky can’t  _ breathe _ . But he can feel. He can hear Sasha’s mind. Barely.

 

Something’s wrong. 

 

He screams. The water absorbs his message. He can’t open his eyes. Desperate, he sticks his arms out and pushes himself through the water, moving towards the sound of Sasha’s mind, quieter by the second. 

 

After what feels like half a lifetime, he feels the tips of Sasha’s fingers floating lightly in the tumult of the water. He grabs onto Sasha’s wrist. Rough skin, not organic steel, meets his hand. 

 

Oh, god.

 

He flies up. The momentum sends them both flying into the gritty sand on the edge of the lake. The moment they’re on the shoreline, Nicky shakes his head and opens his eyes, rolling over and coughing up water on his hands and knees. 

 

Sasha. 

 

Nicky scrambles over to the motionless figure next to him, painfully human instead of steel. 

 

“What did you do?” Nicky whispers, half to Sasha and half to himself, reaching for his wrist and feeling Sasha’s soft, barely beating pulse. He lets out a silent sigh of relief before looking Sasha up and down.

 

His mouth is pale and slightly open, he isn’t moving, but he’s alive. He’s breathing, he’s alive and that’s more than enough for Nicky. He presses his forehead to Sasha’s chest for a brief moment before he hears the hoots of Pyro and Toad somewhere close to the edge of the woods. 

 

They have to leave.

 

“You trust me,” Nicky repeats quietly, taking a deep breath and levitating both himself and Sasha into the tree cover as silently as he can. If he remembers correctly, they had flown for about an hour before encountering the Brotherhood. How the fuck is he supposed to get them home?

 


	7. Seven.

“Nicklas,” Trotz greets them at the door, tone alarmed in a way Nicky’s never heard from him before, before turning to the staircase and staring silently in a way that Nicky knows to mean that he’s calling for help. Nicky can only stagger a few steps in before sitting down against the door, back against the wall, a barely-conscious Sasha sliding down next to him.

 

In what seems like no time, though Nicky suspects he’s lost a few seconds of consciousness, Oshie and Holtby are rushing down the stairs, kneeling in front of them.

 

“Christ, what the fuck happened?” Holtby asks quietly, hand rough but comforting as he examines Nicky’s face carefully before moving over to Sasha.

 

“Um…” Nicky can’t even respond. The beating in Nicky’s head is threatening to make him pass out again, and all he can think about is Sasha. It’s his fault Sasha nearly died tonight.

 

“Is he going to be okay?” Nicky hedges, head turning lightly to look at his partner.

 

“He’ll live,” Oshie tells him grimly, running his hands probingly up a softly mumbling Sasha’s arms and face. For once, Nicky is grateful to have him around. His hands are gentle as he examines Sasha and makes sure he’s breathing fine, makes sure his vitals are okay. Nicky wants to do something to help, but his eyelids are heavy and his limbs feel clumsy.

 

“How the hell did he get in this state? He looks like he almost _drowned_ ,” he comments dubiously.

 

“He did,” Nicky replies slowly and confusedly, “But I don’t know _how_ … Magneto… controlled him and… Threw him at me? When I dragged him out of the water, he was… Human. I don’t know why.”   


“He would have most likely killed you if he had hit you in his shifted state,” Trotz muses, eyes pensive as he watches Sasha stir under Oshie’s gentle touch.

 

Nicky’s eyes snap up to meet Trotz’s when he says that, heart aching but filled with affection. He drops his head back against the door, groaning slightly and mumbling, “You fool,” before blacking out again.

 

Later, he’ll swear he hears, “ _Your_ fool,” in barely-there, melodic Russian before he loses consciousness.

  


 

The first time Nicky wakes back up after that, it’s to an unfamiliar warmth by his side and a soft humming in his mind, content and slightly protective in its feeling. There’s a deep, peaceful silence to his room that can only herald the middle of the night. His eyes open slowly and he tilts his head - _gently_ , he has to remind himself, otherwise he’s sure he’s going to get another headache - to see the faint outline of a deeply sleeping Sasha in a rocking chair next to him, face pressed uncomfortable into the comforter of Nicky’s bed and hand curled gently under the edge of Nicky’s pillow. The ceiling fan is whirring lightly, its pull switches gently clinking against each other as the momentum of the air sends them flying toward each other.

 

Nicky shifts slightly, rolling over to face Sasha and just watching him for a few moments.  He looks younger in sleep, like a teenager. Nicky has so many things he needs Sasha to know. So many things he needs to tell Sasha.

 

For now, however, he curls up facing Sasha, hand reaching under the pillow to link with Sasha’s lightly, and falls back asleep.

 

His feelings can be dealt with in the morning.

 


	8. Eight.

“Sleeping beauty,” Nicky hears, deep, teasing Russian in the back of his head as he drifts back into consciousness. His hand is warm. It’s still being held.

 

Nicky opens his eyes.

 

Sasha is still sitting in the chair, a book in his lap, eyes clear as he looks Nicky up and down. He’s already looking leaps and bounds better than the state Nicky brought him home in. His face is full of color again, lips bright and curled into a soft smile as he squeezes Nicky’s hand gently. 

 

“Have you been there this entire time?” Nicky croaks out, looking up at Sasha wearily. Well, nobody ever said he was tactful either. 

 

“Couldn't leave,” Sasha replies warmly, running his thumb over Nicky’s knuckles. Sasha sighs and sets his book on Nicky’s nightstand with his other hand before resting his chin on his hand, leaning on Nicky’s bed. 

 

“How did you get me home?” Sasha asks, voice quiet once again as he looks up at Nicky with an unreadable look on his face. Just as Nicky opens his mouth to try and come up with an answer that won’t implicate him too badly, Sasha shakes his head and interrupts his thoughts. 

 

“No, better question. Why? You could have left me there. Hidden me somewhere and flown off to get help. Why you strain yourself-” 

 

“Sasha-”

 

“You could have died. Pushed mind strength too far. Why you do it? Could have left me there. Am not worth dying over,” Sasha finishes grimly, eyes scrutinizing every facet of Nicky’s face, seemingly bracing himself for a response.

 

_ “Sasha, please.” He’s alive, Nicky knows he’s alive, but as much as Nicky’s whispering frantically at him, he’s entirely unresponsive. The rain is beating down hard on both of them, and Nicky can’t tell whether the moisture on his cheeks is the rain or something else. _

 

_ The Sentinel is outside like a predator awaiting its prey and Nicky can’t leave with Sasha in this state. Nicky’s face is already badly bruised, but that pales in comparison to the massive wound dripping blood from Sasha’s side. They can only pray that Cyclops and the others can find them before Nimrod does.  _

 

_ Sasha’s supposed to be the strong one, and in the early hours of the morning, stuck in silence in the depths of this overhang, Nicky can’t help but think that the wrong one of the two of them is on the verge of death. _

 

Nicky blinks once before taking a deep breath and launching himself out of bed and into Sasha’s lap, capturing his mouth in a frantic kiss as the chair almost gives out under their combined weights.

 

“You are to me,” Nicky mumbles against Sasha’s stunned lips, frozen for a few seconds before getting with the program and moving against Nicky’s own. Sasha’s arms wind around Nicky’s waist and hold him secure, hold him close.

 

“Nicky,” Sasha whispers in awe when he pulls away, hands settled on Nicky’s hips as he looks up into Nicky’s eyes with a bright smile.

 

“That’s twice that I’ve almost lost you. I’m not going to go through a third without you  _ knowing _ .” Nicky’s voice is hoarse as he presses closer into Sasha, willing him to understand everything he wants to say but can’t put into words.

 

“Tell me, Kolya,” Sasha whispers in pleading Russian, and Nicky’s never felt more helpless.

 

“Jag älskar dig,” Nicky breathes eventually, closing his eyes as Sasha reels him in for another hungry kiss, relief and sheer desire coming across with every motion of Sasha’s lips. 

 

“Ya lyublyu tebya,” Sasha responds in kind, words formed through lips pressed to Nicky’s jaw, to his neck, to anywhere he can reach. 

 

“We can’t spend another four years dancing around each other like this,” Nicky murmurs when they next break apart, pressing their foreheads together and dropping a gentle kiss onto the bridge of Sasha’s nose. Sasha looks hopeful, and it breaks Nicky’s heart when he realizes he hasn’t seen that emotion on Sasha’s face in quite a while.

 

“We’re doing this?” Sasha asks in clarification, hesitant as his hand runs up the length of Nicky’s back, resting gently at his nape. 

 

“Da,” Nicky whispers, and Sasha’s grin threatens to split his face as he leans in for another kiss, his light moan reverberating through Nicky’s body down to his  _ bones _ . 

 

“But not here,” Sasha comments abruptly, standing up with Nicky in his arms and placing him back properly on his bed. Nicky’s about to protest, leaning back against his elbows and tilting his head slightly in confusion and anticipation, before Sasha climbs right on top of him and leans down to kiss him again. Sasha’s leg dips between Nicky’s, and Nicky can feel the piercing that’s been haunting his thoughts for weeks graze him right up against his thigh.

 

“I approve,” Nicky concedes with a quiet laugh, hands reaching up to cup Sasha’s face and preferably keep him there, for as long as they can keep making it out alive together.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> To punkassbookjockey: This thing was a behemoth. The moment I saw your likes, I knew I wanted to do basically all of them, but had no idea how to integrate them all. I hope I got enough of it in for you to be happy, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. <3
> 
> To everyone else: Concrit much appreciated. Thanks for reading.


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